CATHERINE WOULFE

When it came to light that a sex offender teacher has been using aliases to keep teaching, the new Education Minister, Hekia Parata, was very quick to launch an inquiry.

I urge her to broaden that inquiry to examine the system itself, not just the way in which this man flouted it.

The system has knowingly let teachers with serious convictions, including sex crimes and violence, back into classrooms. It’s kept their names secret from parents and principals; and for a long time it had no way of knowing for sure where they were working.

I’ve been hammering away at this for six years. See this story. I’ve also covered the topic for the Sunday Star-Times.

In a nasty nutshell, since it was set up in 2002, the Teachers Council has registered, or decided not to de-register, teachers despite knowing that they have convictions for:

– Battery of an 11-year-old
– Importing ecstasy and supplying cannabis to minors
– Indecent assault on a student
– Threatening to kill
– Assault on a female
– Common assault
– Assault with weapons
– Possession of objectionable material
– Grievous bodily harm.

It has also okayed teachers who have admitted:

– Stealing school funds to spend on themselves
– Having sex with students
– Sexually abusing a minor

This is nowhere near an exhaustive list. And consider this: the last teacher on the list told the council “that touching his 15-year-old niece had been ‘somewhat addictive’ and admitted that he had sexually abused her over a two-year period”.

They let that guy back in the classroom. That’s the one that really haunts me.

I will continue to write about the Teachers Council. Please contact me if you have any information relating to teachers you feel should not be in classrooms: catherine.woulfe@sundaymagazine.co.nz.

Please leave comments here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/blogs/procrastinator/6520756/Convicted-teachers-are-flouting-the-system